X-Files Book Club

This novel was nominated back in September 2015 by rainatlas. It was a WIP at the time and I've been burned enough times that I'm wary of WIPs. I'm allergic to fanfic about William. Despite my reservations, I trust rainatlas's judgement. I read the two sections that had been posted and agreed it was a fic worth our time. On September 24, 2016, Lamia (so kiss me goodbye) at long last completed the epic. And here we go...

"The Lambs"
Author: so kiss me goodbye
Summary: Mulder and Scully kidnap William.
Rated: Fiction T - English - Adventure/Family - [F. Mulder, D. Scully] William - Chapters: 44 - Words: 189,372

Author's Note: "This is a colonization adventure told from a child's perspective (excluding the prologue), and includes strong language, violence and gore, and themes that may upset."

Please leave feedback for the author. Love it, hate it, or "it's complicated," we'd love to hear your thoughts about "The Lambs." Remember, the nomination post is always open for your suggestions.

EDIT: I found a comment in the spam folder for this post that wasn't spam. It provided a link to this story at AO3. The Lambs.

Hi, everyone. Does anyone still want to read and discuss fanfic?

I found this story from a new recs community on Tumblr: MSR Archive. It's not an archive in the traditional sense but each entry does have a picture, the author's summary and a short excerpt, as well as the link. It's the only story they've posted so far that I haven't read, but it was good enough to get me posting here again.

But first, a warning. If you hate the William arc, this is may not be the fic for you. It is not a fix-it fic, and it's certainly not a happy family AU, which understandably is what the fandom seems to prefer.

Instead, "Lucky" is future-fic, set post-IWTB. It reminds me a bit of Mulder's extended dream-fantasy from "Amor Fati" about the ordinary life he didn't choose. In this fic, it's Scully who is dreaming of a different life, a life where she didn't leave the FBI to go on the run, a life where together with Mulder, she gets to raise their son, rather than giving him up for adoption.

"She hears a woman in the supermarket bragging into the phone about how her baby is talking at nine months one evening, and she imagines what it'd be like if Will could have talked, could have made noise when he puckered his lips together, trying for 'Ma.' She couldn't have handled that, she doesn't think. She probably would have run away with him."/ Post-IWTB.

Rated: Fiction T - English - Angst/Family - F. Mulder, D. Scully, William - Words: 1,966

Read Lucky.

This fic wasn't on the nomination post; instead, an earlier story of Seema's, Where the Heart Is was the nominee. After reading, I resisted posting that fic for a number of reasons. The person who nominated the story wasn't a member, which was fine, but she had no interest participating in the discussion, which seemed odd--at the time. It's not a bad fic but I had trouble with the characterization of Scully, which is unsurprising given how I felt about the movie.

Wanting a shorter fic to post, I reread it this weekend. I also read "Compass," her prequel to the movie. I think Seema's telling essentially the same story in both fics but in this case, the longer story works much better. "Compass" didn't get a lot of attention back in 2009, which is a shame. It's closer in theme to the movie than more popular pre-movie stories such as onpaperfirst's "Home, Home," or CazQ's "Hard Times Come Again No More." (Don't get me wrong, I loved both of of those fics.) I wish I'd read it before crack_van closed.

Summary: The truth was a harsh compass. Set after "The Truth" and before the XF2 movie, "I Want to Believe." Anything up to and including the movies are potentially spoilerific. Just one interpretation of how our heroes got to where they were in the movie.
Rated: Teen - Drama/Romance - Fox Mulder, Dana Scully - Words: 22,155

Read "Compass" at FF.net | her website. Leave feedback for the author, and join us for the discussion.

Before idella recorded her podfic for xf_is_love, I'm embarrassed to say I'd never read soundingsea's work. Originally written for Apocalyptothon 2011, "in the lonely cool before dawn" is a haunting, lyrically written short story, set in a deftly-drawn post-apocalyptic world.

in the lonely cool before dawn (1573 words) by soundingsea
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The X-Files
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Characters: Fox Mulder, Dana Scully
Summary:

Ominous clouds huddle low against the horizon, grey stacked on grey. The road is a ribbon of emptiness stretching out until the next hill, cracked pavement unpatched after a winter's thaw.

Leave feedback for author (at least hit the kudo button), then please come back and let us know what you think. The nomination post is always open for your suggestions.

This story is told from Tooms's POV and it's just as creepy as that suggests. Elanor G is better known for her well-plotted casefiles, and they are excellent too, but this story is darkly original. The author rates it R but I would give it no more than a PG-13 for violence.

Please send the author some feedback and then let us know what you think.

Read "Undying".

As I'm not a big fan of the fantasy genre, I was leery of trying this story by Brighid. But I'm glad I did, and I think you will be, too. It's season four, a genfic X-file, with no specific spoilers. She also lists two keywords: Mulder & Faery. Her summary: Mulder falls down the rabbit hole. Well, that's one way to put it. The author rated it PG-13 for being "a bit weird and disturbing." Perhaps so, but this story is magical.

Thanks to xfdryad for the recommendation.

Read Sans Merci.

You can also read or download it at Gossamer.

If you like, send the author some feedback, then come back and let us know what you think. The nomination post is always open for your suggestions.

This story was nominated by write_out but it's one of my favorites now, too. Confession time: the first time I read it, I thought Mulder was being a little whiny. But I love him better now, so it's all good. Tesla's writing is smooth as silk and no one writes a better Mulder voice. Enjoy!

NEW: "Get Up, Mulder"
Author: Tesla
Rating: PG-13 for language
Keyword: MSR, spooning, post-movie

Summary: Mulder recalls the trip back

Spoilers: To "Fight the Future"

Mod note: It says "MSR" but I think it's noromo friendly.

Now I really need to give tesla321 her own tag. Seriously, is there anything of hers we haven't read? See, we do use the suggestions from our nomination post, so go suggest some more, please.

Read "Get Up, Mulder".

"This Humming Meadow" is a gracefully written look at Mulder and Scully and the X-Files as they were in the early seasons. There's a mostly-harmless x-file, some fly-fishing, a walk in a meadow, and a lot of UST. It's a perfect antidote for those back-to-work Monday blues.

Summary: Wrapping his arms around her helps and there's nothing surrounding them except this humming meadow, alive beneath the sun.

This Humming Meadow

Leaving feedback for our writers is always a good thing, as is letting us know what you thought of the story.

The nominations post is always open for your suggestions and the Fic Discussions Master Post is just up, courtesy of our newest community maintainer, amyhit, who gets a round of applause and a virtual bouquet for all of her hard work.